Russian officials have reportedly been given a book of President Vladimir Putin's most "prophetic" quotes as a New Year's gift.
The 400-page book, titled "Words That Change The World," contains 19 of Putin's most notable speeches and was sent to as many as 1,000 bureaucrats and political personnel by one of Putin's top aides, Vyacheslav Volodin, reports the BBC, citing Russian business newspaper RBK. It was published by a pro-Kremlin youth movement called Network.
Volodin said the book is a guide to the Kremlin's "values and guiding principles" and recommended it to officials as "required reading for any politician."
"We had begun to notice that everything which Putin says comes to pass to one degree or another," Volodin said in a statement, according to Reuters. "In this book we traced his words and confirmed that idea. Putin's words can be described as prophetic."
Officials who received the book were told that it should be placed on their desks and would help them understand Russia's domestic and foreign policy.
The book contains speeches dating back to 2003 and opens with an introduction reading, "These are the words which predicted and predetermined the global changes in the world policy," reports the Mirror.
Included is a 2007 speech in Munich, in which Putin accused the U.S. of overstepping its borders and attempting to dominate world order, and Putin's 2014 address to Russian lawmakers defending the annexation of Crimea, according to BBC.
Reuters highlighted a few of the more notable quotes, including one in which Putin threatens to "rub out" Chechen militants in the "out house," and one in which he insults Latvia by telling the country it will only receive "the ears of a dead donkey" from Russia, an expression for nothing.
Putin's official spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he could not answer any questions about the book because he has not heard of it.
